Morality and courage in the legal profession

(Excerpts from a speech delivered on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the UP Women Lawyers’ Circle (WILOCI) on Sept. 2, 2016 by retired Senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court Flerida Ruth P. Romero)

In life’s equation, Excellence = Leadership. In our lexicon, leadership is synonymous with UP, more specifically, UP College of Law. But even as we extoll the tradition of Excellence of UP, let it not be forgot that its handmaiden is Morality. It may come under different guises: Ethics, Honor, Virtue or Idealism; still and all, the bedrock of all these is Morality. The UP badge carries with it a weighty responsibility. You are placed on pedestals of honor, not only for your intellectual acumen, but your unassailable integrity as well. As the French philosopher Francois Rabelais aptly declared: “ Knowledge without conscience is the ruination of the soul.”

Let me illustrate this to you. Several years ago, a Chief Justice gave me a ring and invited me to be a member of a three-man panel that would investigate acts of misconduct among very highly-placed Justices. When I demurred, he used all his persuasive powers to convince me and clinched his arguments by saying: “The Chairman of your panel will be Justice Carol Aquino and the other member will be Justice So and So. We need a team of unquestioned integrity, especially because you will be investigating misbehavior and unethical conduct among your colleagues in such-and-such Court.” I relented. When we found hard evidence of the complicity of these Justices which resulted in penalties ranging from reprimand to dismissal, the decision sent shock waves in legal and judicial circles. In our final hearing, I overheard this comment, referring to the Justice whom we dismissed: “Sayang, UP pa naman si Justice So-and-So.” And another chimed in, “Hindi lamang iyon. He teaches Legal and Judicial Ethics.” A voice inside me kept on repeating, “Where did I go wrong? Or What did I fail to teach?” because that Justice was my student.

Law Professors must, therefore, be mindful, not only of teaching Law in the grand manner, but also of the imperatives of ethical conduct. More importantly, of being the embodiment of Integrity and Virtue. I recall, when I was still teaching, that for a time, we would take up in Faculty meetings the issue of whether Legal Ethics should be taught in the Senior Year, as it was during my time, or whether to move it to First Year – the earlier we introduce Ethics to our students, the better, so some of us rationalized. (I understand that it is now taught in the third year.) Then, as now, my feeling was that it is not enough to teach it as a subject but that it must permeate the entire curriculum – which was how I did it. I took every opportunity, no matter what course I handled, to teach what is right and proper to do at all times. And of course, most crucial, is the example that we, their mentors, project in our professional and personal lives.

To the legal practitioners present here, may I point out that you can assert your moral dominance, especially if you are a partner in a sizeable law firm, in the area of your “Dirty Tricks Department.” Resorting to under-handed tactics to win the case for your client at all costs is not and should never be the norm for a successful practice. Remember, honor and morality will never become passe.

As you embraced noble ideals in your youth, so should you steadfastly retain the selfsame ideals as you pursue your respective careers. For “ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands, but like the seafaring man in the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides and, following them, you reach your destiny.” (Carl Schurz)

This may mean taking the road less traveled, for it takes guts to breast the tide of conformism. One may ask: “Why not just take the path of least resistance? After all, everybody’s doing it.”

Courage

Here’s where your other virtue comes in – COURAGE. I refer in this context , not to PHYSICAL COURAGE for it is not given to every man to give up his life for his country, as Chief Justice Jose Abad Santos told his son Pepito as he was on the verge of being executed by the Japanese in the remote hinterlands of Mindanao, but MORAL COURAGE – the courage to stand steadfast in defense of one’s convictions; the courage to do what’s right in the face of insurmountable odds; the courage to say “No” to one’s boss when you know that he’s steering you off course; the courage to face ostracism from your officemates when you dare to go against their collective decision which is against your better judgment or your conscience.

Reinhold Niebuhr said it so aptly in these oft-quoted lines: “God, give us grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed; courage to change the things which should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.” (The Serenity Prayer)

Isabel Allende, the celebrated Chilean writer, once stated: “Women have always been courageous. They are always fearless when protecting their children and in the last century, they have been fearless in the fight for their rights.”

There is no lack of courageous women in the WILOCI though they have been described in more picturesque, if crude language. Take the case of the late Justice Cecilia Munoz-Palma, she who shattered many a glass ceiling long before the term came into vogue. In her 31 years in government, 24 of them in the judiciary, she was the first woman fiscal, the first woman CFI Judge, the second woman Court of Appeals Justice and to top it all, the first woman Justice of the Supreme Court. But of course, she was immensely qualified as she was Valedictorian of her class and was Number One in the 1937 bar Examinations.

Her mettle was, however, tested during the martial law years when she sat in the Supreme Court from 1973-78. In the three so-called Martial Law cases, she registered her impassioned dissents with Justice Claudio Teehankee, vigorously criticizing the oxymoron that was Marcos’ “constitutional authoritarianism”. In the famous Diokno habeas corpus case, her Opinion was one that was written “on the run”. She fled to her son’s house to write it, taking with her all her notes; submitted it to the Chief Justice and to avoid the importunings of the other Justices who were trying to head off its publication, hid in the cloistered halls of her Alma Mater, St. Scholastica College. When her husband, the late Dean Rodolfo Palma learned the reason for her “disappearing act”, he stoutly declared that the family would go with her even if she were to go up the mountains. Such unseemly courage, coming from a woman, earned her the appellation which has stuck ever since, the only Justice with “balls”. As she memorably once said, “When matters of conscience are at issue, one must be prepared to espouse and embrace a rightful cause, however unpopular it may be.” So aptly has she been described “the best Chief Justice the Supreme Court never had.”

Another descriptive term currently applied to the WILOCIS who have defied tradition and exhibited uncommon courage in fighting for their principles – “feisty” I first heard it to describe Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago who herself admitted to “eating death threats for breakfast.” She has chosen the august halls of the Senate as her battleground. A fearless opponent, she cuts down to size her male adversaries with her blistering attacks and fiery language.(Since this speech was delivered, Senator Santiago has been called by the Angels to present her advocacies in the Heavenly Tribunal.)

Another woman of unusual courage - Chief Justice Maria Lourdes Aranal Sereno. The fifth-ranking in Philippine officialdom, she recently faced off with the NO. 1, the most powerful official in the government, in regard to the raging issue of the day, the EXTRA-JUDICIAL KILLINGS, otherwise known as EJK.

And now, the “flavor of the month,” she who just added the prestigious Magsaysay Award to her collection, given to her, in quotes, “for her moral courage and commitment to justice.” Indeed, it needs guts and daring to expose the high and mighty in the government and in high society. Ombudsman Chit Carpio Morales rightfully deserves the title of No 1 Graftbuster for her amazing record of ferreting out corruption and so many corrupt officials in government during the brief period that she has held the position. Media, having overused the word “feisty,” now coined the term “Three Furies” in referring to her and our other WILOCI sister Grace Pulido Tan who, because of her outstanding job as the Auditor

par excellence of the country, was pressed into serving the international community through the United Nations. How right was Eleanor Roosevelt when she said: “A woman is like a teabag. You can’t tell how strong she is until you set her in hot water!”  You will please pardon my immodesty for my bragging rights when I say that these courageous ladies were all my students. With pride, I now bask in their reflected glory.

Service

We who have been beneficiaries of countless privileges and blessings must confront what we call “Payback Time”. As the Good Word reminds us: “To whom much is given, much is required.” We did not undergo all those years of sleepless nights, sacrifices and privations in law school simply to eke out a living and live a comfortable life upon graduation, but to be useful members of our society, thus to enrich the lives of the less privileged around us – they are legion.

Dag Hammarskjold, the famous UN Secretary General who died in a plane crash pointed out: “You have not done enough, you have never done enough, so long as it is still possible that you have something to contribute.” May I add – the possibilities are endless…

WILOCI, ever mindful of its mandate, as delineated from the moment of its founding by then President Manuel A. Roxas has been true to these high ideals through its laudable Legal Aid Program. Albert Schweitzer, the great humanitarian

Philosopher, has emblazoned these ideals in these undying words: “There is no higher religion than human service. To work for the common good is the greatest creed.”

Service assumes different guises, one of the most sublime being the selfless, dedicated work of Mother Teresa among the “poorest of the poor” in Calcutta, thus earning for her a sainthood of the Roman Catholic Church on September 4. In tribute, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif said that Mother Teresa was a “rare and unique individual who lived long for higher purposes. Her life-long devotion to the care of the poor, the sick and the disadvantaged was one of the highest examples of service to our humanity.”

More contemporary and relevant to our times and to us WILOCIS, to my mind, is the act of Ombudsman Chit Morales when she was tapped by then President Aquino to be Ombudsman in 2011. When asked by someone if this were not a demotion from Supreme Court Justice to Ombudsman, she replied something to the effect that “not if she can still serve her country in this position.”

Now all of us WILOCIS, in our respective niches, can find some way, no matter how humble, to utilize our skills and resources to serve others, for all of us on earth, nay, in the universe, are interconnected with each other. Truly, the fate of one is the fate of all. It is my fervent wish and hope that the WILOCIS shall keep enshrined in their hearts these noble ideals of Excellence with Morality, Courage and Service.